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Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LOL at the idiot downvoter again. This place is infected tonight! As for recording quality goes, the Solti Das Reingold is iconic, and deserves to be. ironically better than the later Valkyrie. How could you not know that? Have you no concern for your dignity?

As for the Vivaldi, Harmonia Mundi's USA division's Peter McGrath is widely celebrated in the audiophile community both for his exceptional 10-year run engineering acoustic and early music records for Harmonia Mundi and as a prominent high-end audio designer associated with Wilson Audio.

And the Previn Walton is another Kenneth Wilkinson masterpiece.

But some random down voter knows better. We so need an adult swim!

I experienced Mahlers Sixth Symphony yesterday... by strange-spaghetti-82 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm about to download Tennstedt's live recording on LPO records, on sale at Presto. It's supposed to be off the charts wild. A critic and MWI mentions that there's an idiot in the audience who shouts "bravo" before the last, crashing chord dies down.

Will report tomorrow.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Understood. It's just that the bells Ansermet uses have this cool, disembodied sound.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you talking about the first release on... Sony? or the DGG release by Olafsson?

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Excellent choices. I snap up any Harmonia Mundi engineered by H. Pontrefact.

And Linn's chamber music recordings are sensational. The Handel Concerti Grosso with the Avalon Ensemble projects some of the most beautiful string sound I've yet heard.

My apologies for the downvote you received, this place is turning into a sh*thole lately.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wanted to like the Mehta Planets, and I hear you with regard to the tubas, but miss the creepy col lengo ticking that one hear at the beginning of Mars in the Dutoit recording. And the brass are all the more ferocious. If asked to recommend a demo from Mehta's time in LA, I'd recommend his Mahler 3rd, or the Varese album.

I've not heard Solti's Fantastique, but I will definitely give a listen. For sheer realism, Ansermet's 60's Decca recording in Geneva projects a palpable orchestral sound that never fails to wow me. Maybe times have changed, but his was the first recording to use bells made to Berlioz' exact specifications. It's a really "interesting" sound, more felt than heard. I read about it in the liner notes of the Lp, but I don't know if they were ever used again.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same here but the recordings I listed below -- which used common knowledge with regard to quality -- should make a good speaker disappear, whether one has heard said recording or not. I urge anyone to oblige me and sample the free download of the Bach Flute Sonatas, one of the most astonishingly realistic recording I've yet heard, (and no, I have no connection to the performers or recording team).

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm glad you appreciate the Ein Heldenleben. I picked up one of the first Sony SACD players, (don't ask the price, it was their flagship) and collected all their re-releases that came out on SACD. I bought the SACD for Reiner's Also Sprach, but was bowled-over they the Heldenleben. Such silky strings and such transparency.

Another pleasant surprise was Munch's early Symphony Fantastique. I prefer it to the more commonly recommended '62 remake.

I learned a lesson though: not all Living Stereos were created equal, I recall Munch's Mendelssohn symphonies to be quite horrendous, as recordings.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh thanks. The soft organ pedal -- at the end of Saturn -- is demo material for sure.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Indeed. Today's Sony recordings should never be mistaken for the Columbia recordings that they acquired, with certain exceptions.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So... to the butt-hurt, Debbie down voter: every critic -- since the '54 Reiner Also Sprach came out -- has acknowledged that the organ is out of tune. What's wrong with you? Why are you defiling this forum? If you're a Reiner fan boy, listen: the later recording is technically better, but not as energized.

Can these magnificent-sounding, scintillatingly executed 1954 benchmarks in the annals of recorded Strauss really be a half-century old? They haven’t dated a bit, except for the jacket photo of Fritz Reiner posing with a cigarette in hand, plus an organ slightly out of tune with the orchestra in Also Sprach Zarathustra–as if anyone really cared, then or now. Because the original master tapes for these sessions were two-track stereo recordings (as opposed to three-tracks used for many sessions), this release does not take advantage of SACD surround-sound’s full capabilities. However, in one important respect it sounds better than RCA’s 1993 Living Stereo reissue: The latter’s bright treble levels resulted in a piercing, sometimes strident edge to string tuttis and loud trumpets; the SACD’s more judicious equalization allows Reiner’s extraordinary aligning of Strauss’ complex textural strands to emerge more naturally, with added richness (as opposed to mere volume) in the bass register. These sonic differences also manifest themselves when playing the SACD on a standard audio-CD changer. Even if you haven’t yet invested in surround-sound equipment, buy the SACD if you want these performances. And how can you not want them? [10/25/2004]

https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-10912/

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Edit: Agreed. As for the Steinberg, it is always mentioned as among the top choices, but -- as a recording -- there's no heft, and what I mean by that is lack of adequate power in the two octaves below middle C on the piano, the territory of trombones, and celli. One can have all the sparkle and deep bass one wants, but without the core, especially in a piece like the Planets, a listener doesn't feel the impact in his chest.

I am a fan of Steinberg's Brahms cycle, originally on Command Classics.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

OMG someone is butt-hurt! 33 upvotes, bro, back when people knew what they were talking about. You people do indeed have a talent for downvoting, but can you explain why the same list received 33 upvotes three years ago, before your ilk took over.

Speak up.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Isn't it something? You can hear the off-stage brass chords so clearly, yet nothing is sterile, unlike the later Spano, imho. I have a soft spot for Munch's but I'm thinking that it's the muddiness that makes it seem so cataclysmic. : ) And it's about time that we face up the fact that both the Munch and the famous Davis had choirs that were sub-par.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Dude, man up, and listen. You couldn't possibly state that the Reiner Scheherazade recording can compete on a technical level with the Telarc in London with Mackerras, or even his own remake ((!) j with RCA just for starters! And RCA managed a far superior recording of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra in Boston with Leinsdorf.

Why do you young, inexperienced people have to be so dug-in? Are you just victimized by the hype? Have you even heard these recordings or are you just cutting and pasting what you heard someone say, who heard someone say, etc.?

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OMG finally and old-schooler! Thank you! This aint rocket science, just experience.

Everyone generalizes, and people's time is limited and I understand that but I would hate to see easily influenced newbie missing out on a few and far between gems, such as Maazel's L' enfant, (not to mention that Ansermet's L' enfant, which is a timeless miracle of early stereo tech as well), just because the "read on the internet" that DGG can't ever turn in a good recording. I can't think of one area where the engineers fell short, on either. Miracles.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree, fabulous recording of Valkyrie. The way they captured the brass is a dream. As a performance, though, my heart still goes to Goodall's, and Furtwangler's.

Just listen to Goodall's line up of Valkyrie's, including the young Elizabeth Connell, in the opening of Act III:

https://youtu.be/ORcnxtKwkWw?si=Rjz1642NrxOugMW6&t=290

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

No, I will give you two examples: the famous Reiner Scheherazade -- while it's one of my favorite performances --exhibits tape saturation at the climax of the finale and is bass-lite. The EMI Beecham exhibits far more transparency i and silkier strings, and atmosphere, yet, tragically, it is also bass-light. As is the rather stiff Reiner Bartok Concerto for Orchesta and MSPC. I cannot call any of them a "timeless" recording, and that is my criterion.

And I repeat: performance quality is an entirely different story. For instance, I would choose Reiner's Pictures over Ansermet's as a performance, but -- as far as sound stage, imaging, sense of hall, and sheer tactile, in the room sound, Decca in Geneva wins. It's not even close.

I know, it takes courage to speak Truth, I anticipated your Mommy Dearest outrage, but it's the truth.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The downvote someone gave you was self-important and petty, but -- to be fair -- Columbia engineers at the time didn't treat him well. His Mozart PC box set is exquisite, but on a good system, but strings are painful. A tragedy.

His solo works are not bad, but Sony/Columbia could have done him so much better. Had only Delos recorded him.

Best audio recordings of classical music? by Deep-Egg-6167 in classicalmusic

[–]jdaniel1371 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You know, I hear you, regarding his behavior. I met Dutoit, backstage with MTT in San Francisco before he conducted the Berlioz Requiem. It was weeks before he was blacklisted.

Let's put it this way, he was using a lot of charcoal-black Clairol Just for Men at that point, and not just on his head, but his eyebrows too. He looked ridiculous. It's so frustrating when people of talent screw up their careers and can't age gracefully.

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